The Divergent Path: Couple of News stories....
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/vic/2021/11/19/daniel-andrews-scott-morrison-double-speak/
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has lauded the vaccination efforts of his state after more freedoms were returned overnight, as he slammed the Prime Minister for “double speaking to extremists”.
Almost all Victoria’s remaining coronavirus restrictions lifted just before midnight on Friday, as the state inches closer to 90 per cent full vaccination in those aged over 12.
The changes mean double-dosed Victorians are able to dance in clubs, and home visitor limits, as well as cafe, bar and restaurant density caps, have been dumped.
“This is a fantastic day, Victorians have achieved something that is so special and I am very proud of them,” Mr Andrews told Nine’s Today Show on Friday morning.
Freedom day came at the state’s COVID numbers leapt to their highest number in nearly a week, with 1273. It came after 1007 on Thursday and a string of days with fewer than 1000.
There were also eight more fatalities. However, hospitalisation rates continue to fall, with 330 COVID patients in Victorian hospitals on Friday – down from 337 on Thursday.
The state government is also battling to get its pandemic legislation through the upper house after days of protests on parliament’s front steps.
https://spectator.com.au/2021/11/language-power-and-covidspeak/?fbclid=IwAR1zFv_qnrWO1ZBH3gLjFRfOCJxAt3TbfZPIYYlZfQzVu5uf0rBMQuIPrhk
One of the most banal aspects of the pandemic has been the ways in which the professional managerial class have been able to substantiate the mythology of their own self-importance in antagonism to the “uneducated” and the “misinformed.”
The market has swiftly reconfigured itself to meet the needs of the present moment. The result, of course, has been a kabuki theatre of one-upmanship in which mask wearing, social distancing and elaborate displays of vaccine status can be used as a means with which to signal your adherence to or rebellion from the dominant narrative.
Entire cottage industries have been created and embraced by consumers with a cargo-cult enthusiasm and marketing consultants have brainstormed endlessly about how to make masks, hand sanitiser and QR codes appear less sinister. The table with wet-wipes at the front of my local supermarket is called a “sanitation station,” my local pharmacy sells hand-sanitiser disguised as a “purifying hand treatment” and my favourite clothing brands have pivoted towards loungewear for “these uncertain times.” The accoutrements of the covid-19 pandemic are clearly here to stay given how easily they can weaponised towards crypto-puritan displays of tolerance and conscientiousness.
As Byung-Chul Hang notes, the “neoliberal labor camp has acquired a new name: the home office.” Zoom meetings have proven to be the ideal communicative medium for the narcissistic age in which every workplace interaction is mediated by the image of oneself. Work-from-home scenarios, Hang explains, are often more taxing than traditional office spaces because the final vestiges of a disciplinary society have been replaced by the deregulated rhythms of cognitive capitalism. The distinction between our public and private lives, with their own social and geographical configurations, no longer exists when we are able to seamlessly work, socialise and consume through the one technological apparatus.